HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, Fla. — Thousands of students are enjoying their summer break, but the three-month lull often leaves kids without a nutritious meal.
Local school districts in the bay area are ensuring kids don't go hungry by offering free breakfast and lunch through the Summer Food Service Program for Children.
Shani Hall is General Manager for student nutrition services in Hillsborough County and said between 3,000 and 4,000 meals will be prepared daily throughout the summer.
"When school is out, kids are still hungry, so this program allows us to provide nutritious breakfast and lunch to any child 18 and under throughout the whole county," Hall said. "A lot of times, it's just helping parents make ends meet. Especially now. Now that the economy is hard on everybody."
The financial strain and restructuring of meals are affecting school districts nationwide.
Alana Hendricks is the student nutrition manager in Hillsborough County.
Over nine years, she has served thousands of children within the school system. As a result, she has seen firsthand the impact inflation has had on school meals.
"The cost of chicken has gone up. The cost of eggs have gone up," Hendricks said.
The rising cost of food has caused her to rethink meals.
"Sometimes if we were using chicken, we would adjust it to maybe a beef or, you know, instead of offering chicken three or four times a week, we might have to do rotate it out a little bit less," Hendricks said.
Hillsborough county schools isn't an anomaly.
Diane Pratt-Heavner is the spokesperson for the School Nutrition Association. The non-profit organization helps offer low-cost meals to students across the nation.
"We have seen our members all across the country who massively increased costs, and it really hasn't gone down," Pratt-Heavner said.
During the pandemic, the CARES Act helped offset costs for school districts nationwide.
Sarasota and Pinellas County schools took advantage of the funding.
A representative with Sarasota County Schools said funding from the United States Department allowed students to eat for free during the pandemic but have since had to return to a paid program. The total food budget for the school year is 25 million dollars. However, that money may go quickly, as the representative said the increase in food and supply costs have increased from $6.2 million in 2021 to $11 to $13 million. In addition, the district is currently sitting with 28,000 dollars in school meal debt.
In Pinellas County, the district has 305,890 dollars in school meal debt. In 2022, the district spent about 20 million dollars on food for the 2022-2023 school year.
Highland County schools see a similar impact. The district spent 8.5 million dollars on meals and has seen its food costs increase 10 to 15 percent since the 2021-2022 school year.
In Manatee County, the district is also seeing a meal debt. However, the total amount is still to be tallied. The district spends about 15 million dollars on food annually and said the cost of food has increased by approximately 10 percent.
Free meals are provided for students Monday through Thursday. To find a location, visit summerbreakspot. orgor text 'Food' or 'Comida' to 304304.
